Kastamonu promotes cooperation with educational establishments
Kastamonu, the number one manufacturer of laminate and MDF in Russia, takes an active part in the interaction with schoolchildren and students, provides charitable support, conducts excursions, practical trainings, and internships.
The Kastamonu plant is located on the territory of the Alabuga SEZ in Tatarstan. Tatarstan is a major scientific and educational center in Russia. 129 scientific organizations, and more than three thousand schools and kindergartens operate here. In addition, there are 46 higher education institutions in the region. The head of the Tatarstan parliament has repeatedly emphasized in his messages that the education sector has always been a priority in the republic.
Kastamonu cannot remain indifferent to social, cultural, educational, and charitable projects in Tatarstan and in nearby cities of the Republic. In May 2024, the company traditionally took part in the event summing up the results of the outgoing academic year “El Ukuchysy 2024”, which took place at the Adymnar - Alabuga Multilingual Educational Complex of the Yelabuga Municipal District. The company's representatives greeted the current graduates of the educational institution, and presented gifts and souvenirs to them.
In May of this year, together with volunteers - skilled furniture workers - another good deed was done: sets of school furniture were made of Kastamonu products and donated to Secondary School No. 1 named after Hero of the Soviet Union M.S. Fomin in the town of Mendeleevsk. The management of the educational establishment and the students' parents expressed great gratitude for the opportunity for their children to study at new serviceable desks.
With the purpose of bringing up students in love and respect for the forest, as well as ensuring human resources in the forestry industry, the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan plans to hold the VII Meeting of Tatarstan School Forestries on July 24-26, 2026 at the Lubyansk Forestry Engineering College. This is not the first time Kastamonu will join in and, for its part, will prepare a master class or an educational program for school forestry students.
Every year, students from various universities undergo practical training and internships at the Kastamonu enterprise. From 2023 onwards, these were representatives of the following educational institutions: Kazan Technological College of Kazan National Research Technological University (under the program “Analytical quality control of chemical compounds”), International Competence Center - Kazan Technical School of Information Technology and Communications (“Design and web application development”), University of Management TISBI (“Management”), Naberezhnye Chelny Technological College ("Commerce"), Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University (KFU) ("Foreign economic activity and technology of transport processes", "IT technologies"). This year, the first interns are second-year students of KFU. For two weeks, they will gain a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge and skills they need to study the specialty “Operations in Logistics”. The heads of the HR and Supply Chain Management Departments will become their supervisors and help them get acquainted with the peculiarities of working at a large-scale plant.
Regular activity is carried out to inform graduates of educational institutions about vacancies available at the plant. In addition, thanks to agreements between Kastamonu, Alabuga SEZ and Polytechnic College, 17 people were employed by the company in 2023-2024.
The company also regularly conducts excursions for students of educational institutions. The purpose is to familiarize them with the upcoming type of activity, as well as to increase their level of interest and motivation in mastering the educational program.
“The principles of social partnership with institutions are important to us, and we try to provide appropriate assistance and support - both financial and communication. Observing the interest of schoolchildren and students in the company, we are always happy to see them, we tell them in detail about the activities of Kastamonu, the production process, products, as well as practical training and internship opportunities,” Kastamonu company management notes.
As a result of close cooperation with the educational sector, Kastamonu employees are granted the right to further training in some educational institutions. Thus, by agreement with KNRTU, from 2019, colleagues in groups (usually 17 people) enroll in a free second higher education in the field of wood chemical technology. At the moment, 34 employees are studying for a master's degree at KNRTU.
